Savai'i could be home to the oldest commercial plantation in the Pacific – the Lata plantation which is an enormous freehold land acquired by a Scottish land banker called Frank Cornwall.

Mr Cornwall purchased the land around 1876 and began laying it out in 1877. The land or a small portion of it has been continuously cultivated or grazed for 142 years. 

According to former New Zealand Herald journalist and photo archivist of the Museum of Samoa, Tony Brunt, the plantation was infamously known as the site of brutal labour practices in its early years. 

The Scottish banker’s claim to the land was almost completely thrown out by the Samoa Land Commission which met between 1890-94 and only awarded him 700 acres. Records show that the decision seemed to have been successfully appealed through the courts in Apia and the award to Mr Cornwall finally totalled a whopping 12,320 acres or 50 square kilometres.

Mr Cornwall died in 1895 and a German planter and engineer, Erich Langen acquired the plantation in late 1912. The New Zealanders took over the land around 1920 and subsequently leased it out. It was then passed to the independent Samoan Government almost completely intact in 1962. 

The Lata Block was the second largest State holding on Savai’i during Samoa's first year of Independence. Since 1962, much of the land appears to have been reclassified as customary land or transferred to nearby villages. These days only several hundred acres are leased out. The leaseholders have included the Davidson, Leung Wai and Phillips families. It is currently leased by the Wetzell family.

Richard Wetzell, the Managing Director of the plantation, told the Samoa Observer that his late uncle, renowned Samoan business man, Tupua Fred Wetzell had taken over the lease of the plantation from the Phillips in 1979.

"It was Tupua's wish that his children and I give the plantation one more go because it was largely subsidised by his company, Apia Concrete Products (A.C.P),” he said.

“The idea was to separate the plantation from A.C.P, so the shareholders (my four cousins and I) agreed on a rebuild plan for the plantation from the ground up, to every aspect of it in order to revive it.”

Mr Wetzell also alluded to hopes that their family would one day secure the original 550 acres of the Lata plantation.

"The plantation is currently using 259 acres but the Lata area consists of approximately 550 acres, we hope to one day secure the original acreage,” he said.

As to the economic profile of the plantation, Mr Wetzell said: "It is a mixed agribusiness including artesian bottled water ‘Samoa H2O’, Lata Beef Cattle, Apiculture for the production of our ‘Pure Lata Honey’, fresh produce, citrus and fruit trees." 

Mr Wetzell also pointed out that it has been hard for him to find replacements for staff he lost to the seasonal worker schemes.

"At the end of last year we had 26 full time employees – due to R.S.E. [Recognised Seasonal Employer] we lost 10 staff at the start of the year and then another one joined them, so we lost 11 in total,” he said.

“We have had no luck in finding replacements to fill the vacancies.

According to Mr Wetzell, business has been difficult since the 2019 measles epidemic followed by the COVID-19 pandemic a few months later in 2020, nevertheless they are still tracking well as far as their business plans are concerned.